Affairs of the Heart

Emma agrees to a pretend engagement with a young earl in order to protect him from the horde of eligible young women besieging him.

Portrait painter James Mallory meets the beautiful Flora and asks to paint her. He discovers that there's something not quite right about Flora when she grows angry for no reason during the sitting.

Mr. Prodmore holds the mortgage on the Yule family estate. He's willing to forgive the vast debt if Yule marries his daughter, but the enchanting Grace (Diana Rigg) has other ideas.

Mrs. Bridgenorth asks artist James Mallory to paint an imaginary portrait. He passes the commission on to his friend Mary Tredick, who paints a superb portrait of a man from her past who meant a great deal to her.

Adela, who has taken on the role of running the family since her mother's death, must work to "save" her father from re-marrying and her brother from a scheming music hall artiste.

Dr. Austin Sloper is a wealthy widower who dominates his shy, mousy only daughter Catherine. Catherine meets impoverished but handsome Morris Townsend at an engagement party and becomes captivated.

Lord James Lambeth accompanies his friend Percy Beaumont to America and meets the beguiling Bessie Alden. Bessie's intelligence is in sharp contrast to James's vacant and superficial personality, but their friendship develops.

Kate Cookham refuses to accept that her fiance Herbert Dodd is breaking off their engagement. But when tragedy strikes, wealthy Kate reappears in Herbert's life, offering him back all his money and more.

Robert Merton and Kate Croy are in love, but her Aunt Maud disapproves of the match because Robert has no money - she favors Lord Mark.

Alan Wayworth has written a play which his wealthy, married lover Leonie Alsager arranges to perform. The heroine of the play is based on Leonie, but the young actress playing the part, Violet Grey, is struggling.

Banker Frederick Winterbourne meets the impetuous young American Daisy Miller in Geneva. He is charmed by her apparent innocence but finds that other people, including his Aunt Constance, see her as vulgar.

On a ship returning from America, Englishmen Bertram Braddle and Henry Chilver meet the intriguing American widow Elizabeth Demerel. They become rivals for her affection, and the overbearing Bertram appears to win.

Richard Breen succeeds in persuading Juliana Bordereau and her niece Tita to rent him rooms at their crumbling Venetian palazzo in return for an extortionate rent. His motives are not innocent.